Joshua Gonzales, bartender at The Ball and Biscuit, 331 Massachusetts Ave., demonstrated his cocktail technique during a recent United States Bartenders' Guild competition in Indianapolis. / Jolene Ketzenberger/The Star

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Kendall Lockwood of Ball and Biscuit, 331 Massachusetts Ave., won the recent Four Roses U.S. Bartenders Guild Cocktail Competition in Lawrenceburg, Ky., with a bourbon, brandy and milk drink she called The Hooch. She competed against nine other semifinalists from across the country. / Photo provided

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Indianapolis recently gained a chapter of the United States Bartenders’ Guild, a not-for-profit devoted to elevating the craft of bartending, and the city’s mixologists are already seeing results.

The local chapter hosted a regional cocktail competition Monday at The Alexander hotel with competitors from across the Midwest. Participating bartenders were required to prepare a drink for four within seven minutes while a national judge scrutinized their technique. A separate tasting panel evaluated the drinks for flavor.

Such competitions help raise the profile of the profession, say guild members.

“It really helps bring credibility to our market as a whole,” said chapter president Jason Foust, of Late Harvest Kitchen.

Joshua Gonzales, of Ball and Biscuit, represented the Indianapolis chapter in Monday’s competition. Such events, he said, fill a gap in the Indianapolis cocktail scene.

“It elevates the profession and gives a sense of community for everyone,” said Gonzales.

Another local bartender and guild member, Kendall Lockwood, also of Ball and Biscuit, recently won a national cocktail competition. Lockwood took top honors, and the $5,000 first prize, at the Four Roses U.S. Bartenders Guild Cocktail Competition last week in Lawrenceburg, Ky., with a riff on a bourbon-based milk punch that she called “The Hooch.”